nitrogen application

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
Some local winter barley is starting to look a little yellow. I'd have thought the snow might green it up a bit - the old boys say an inch of snow is worth half a bag of fertiliser. Fortunately, it is now far too wet for any spreaders to be venturing out for a while! Too wet, too cold and the days are still too short for any meaningful growth.
 

Jon 3085

Member
Location
Worcester, UK
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It’s gone yellow here and got mildew...same as every other year though . Going to put some N on in a few weeks time and manganese when it starts to grow again.
 

4course

Member
Location
north yorks
our plans were scuppered last week as put 0-24-24 on where planned , was then going to make a start with 15-15-15 but the blessed stuff was solid so rep out and agreed to swap. Now frost gone and cant travel but fair dos its been swapped without issue though would have liked most of it on. Once wet our land is not fit to travel plus we are in a windy spot it would have gone on fri/sat without a mark and stuff is growing, cant abide yellowing, it wont matter a lot if we can get on in the next few days but I dont like playing catch up and we would have been in front of the game
 

7610 super q

Never Forgotten
Honorary Member
Mine's as yellow as custard poured over the bonnet of a JCB. Some plants appear to be dying altogether.
But the fert ain't arrived yet, ground conditions are far too wet to travel, there's at least 3 more months of winter yet, and I want to see some signs of life before throwing more money at it. Oh woe is me.

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* lime prills, before anyone asks.....
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
There's an argument for preserving as many tillers on barley plants as possible, which is why winter barley ought to be one of the first things to get a dose when life does start again. Oilseed rape starts growing a couple of degrees lower than for barley so this needs prioritising IMO.
 

Devon James

Member
Location
Devon
When do you guys , and girls , start applying fertiliser to your winter barley in Devon and Cornwall especially on the coast ?
Middle/third week of Feb is the suggestion normally.
Just looked back and the first dose didnt go on until the 26th March last year!
 

4course

Member
Location
north yorks
since we missed the opportunity to put some 15.15.15 on 10 days ago its been wet and non drying, the daff buds are now almost level with the top of the leaves , im now putting everything else on hold and prioritising our plan and will take any reasonable chance to get on , I dont trust the weather forecasters these days .
 

robbie

Member
BASIS
Daff buds here are well above the leaves, an odd one in sheltered places are starting to just show a little colour.

I walked my osr this morning and it's starting to move, the stems are begining to extend so I'll be on with a cwt acre of AN as soon as possible hopefully next week.
Barley will get half it's N as urea after that...weather permitting.
 

4course

Member
Location
north yorks
Daff buds here are well above the leaves, an odd one in sheltered places are starting to just show a little colour.

I walked my osr this morning and it's starting to move, the stems are begining to extend so I'll be on with a cwt acre of AN as soon as possible hopefully next week.
Barley will get half it's N as urea after that...weather permitting.
agree, but therein lies my slight concern, chances are soil type will mean you will be on before we could sensibly travel, which with a good week means wont be going much before the 15th , my records 30 years or more here show any later and we will be compromising yield
 

robbie

Member
BASIS
We find here that in a "normal" year(if there is such a thing) delaying first N on barley especially but also osr and ww beyond mid Feb sees yields fall away.

Last year this became especially noticeable. I started top dressing the week before the beast from the east and finished the first dressing the week after. My neighbours thought I was mad especially as I was using a high first dose of 70 units/a.c. on everything but as the season progressed my gamble paid off.

I just wished I'd started a couple of days sooner and got it all done before the beast struck as the stuff that did get it before was the best yielding, as harvest progressed you could tell when first N was applied by the yields despite there only being a fortnight difference.

After The wind we've had the last couple of days, everything had dried up a treat but the rain today will mean it'll need a day or two to settle.
 

4course

Member
Location
north yorks
We find here that in a "normal" year(if there is such a thing) delaying first N on barley especially but also osr and ww beyond mid Feb sees yields fall away.

Last year this became especially noticeable. I started top dressing the week before the beast from the east and finished the first dressing the week after. My neighbours thought I was mad especially as I was using a high first dose of 70 units/a.c. on everything but as the season progressed my gamble paid off.

I just wished I'd started a couple of days sooner and got it all done before the beast struck as the stuff that did get it before was the best yielding, as harvest progressed you could tell when first N was applied by the yields despite there only being a fortnight difference.

After The wind we've had the last couple of days, everything had dried up a treat but the rain today will mean it'll need a day or two to settle.
every day counts, id rather be a few in front than playing catch up. Much used to be made of the expression timeliness in my opinion its timeliness minus a week that makes the job easier/ more productive,its a loveley sunny day here now with a drying wind looks like weve got a race on between us ,ho ho. but im not making ruts yet!!
 

robbie

Member
BASIS
The olden's always told me the difference between a good farmer and a bad one is two weeks. That's very true but the real skill is knowing whether it's two weeks early or late for a particular job.

@4course you may well beat me, I've got a fair bit of work to do with the pigs this next week and it's a bit shitty on top at the moment.
 

Chae1

Member
Location
Aberdeenshire
I saw in irish farm journal a blend of can and urea, sold by yara.

I think this is a good idea, as spreading risk somewhat. Anybody using it?

Only issue i can see is spreading with different sized prills.
 

robbie

Member
BASIS
That's interesting, I've been debating to go with AN or urea ?
I like the AN for quick availability but urea is less likely to leach and in my opinion matches the crop needs better. My thinking is if it's cold the plant won't need it and the urea won't get converted but as the soil warms the plant grows and the rate of conversion of the urea increases.

I've only got a small area osr which imo needs its N first.so I did wonder about going over it twice with 1/2 cwt of AN and 1/2 cwt urea. I'm not sure how it would spread if I could mix it.
 

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quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

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